‘The Dark Knight’ breaks a ‘Sith’ box-office record

July 19, 2008 | 3:12 a.m.

How big a weekend is "The Dark Knight" going to have? It’s off to a historic start, topping the midnight-show record of "Revenge of the Sith," according to a Warner Bros. press release that just came over.

BURBANK, CA, July 18, 2008 – Just past the stroke of midnight, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “The Dark Knight” broke the record for a 12:01 a.m. film opening, earning an unprecedented $18,489,000 at the box office, it was announced today by Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. That total does not include the grosses from the subsequent 3:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. showings.

The 12:01 a.m. grosses soared past the previous record of $16.9 million, which had been held by “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” since May of 2005. “The Dark Knight” also surpassed Warner Bros. Pictures’ own studio record for midnight showings, previously held by “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”

more after the jump…

In making the announcement, Fellman stated, “We have been thrilled by the response to ‘The Dark Knight,’ first from the critics and now from audiences. From our earliest screenings, the buzz on the film has been white hot and it hasn’t let up. Now that the opening weekend is here, we are very excited to finally share ‘The Dark Knight’ with moviegoers nationwide.”

Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Syncopy Production, a Christopher Nolan film, “The Dark Knight,” starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Morgan Freeman. Nolan directed the film from a screenplay written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan are the producers, with Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull serving as executive producers. “The Dark Knight,” is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane. “The Dark Knight” is distributed worldwide in theatres and IMAX by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company. The film has been rated PG-13 for “intense sequences of violence and some menace.”